Sports

  A FULL season of training, conditioning and practice culminated in members of Ennis Gymnastics Club representing the South-West of Ireland in the recent National Irish Championships. To qualify for the national finals, gymnasts first have to compete in the regional finals and get a top three place to represent the South-West Region. The first national final competition was held in Bray and required the gymnasts to compete over four disciplines, the floor, beam, bars and vault. The scores for each event were added together. Ennis Gymnastics Club was well represented in the medals and provided two Irish champions. The gold medal winners were Leah Mahon at U-13, level 4 and Rachel Tone at U-13, level 10. Kate and Jane Taylor both won silver, Kate at the U-13, level 9 and Jane at U-15, level 10. Aisling O’Connor won bronze in the O-13, level 9. The men and women’s individual apparatus finals event was held in Dublin. As before, the …

Kilkee will be the venue on this Saturday and Sunday for the area competition in the Pierce Purcell Shield. All Clare clubs will be participating and the eventual winner on Sunday afternoon will be through to contest the North Munster final.

HAVE dogs will travel could well be the cry from Sixmilebridge trainer, Stephen Murray, who hit an exciting winning vein in the past week with three winners on successive nights in three provinces.

Avenue B 1   Ennis Town Rock 1Avenue won 4-3 on penalties ENNIS Town Rock caused somewhat of a surprise when they defeated holders and three-in-a-row chasing Avenue United A in the quarter-final of the Clare Junior Cup a few weeks ago.

Newmarket Celtic A 2   Bridge United A 1 NEWMARKET Celtic A remain on course to complete the league and cup double following their latest outing.

Kerry 0-17   Clare 3-4 Those hopes remained strong for a long time but, in the end, the ability of Kerry to create scoring chances, mainly due to their patience in the build up, proved too much for Clare.Four points was the margin of victory but on the evening Kerry managed 17 scores, 10 more than the home side. Nine players shared in their final tally whereas only three Clare players got on the scoresheet.That Clare have made progress in the past year is without question but at the end of the day they failed to match the all round balance of the visitors.It’s an indication of how much this victory meant to Kerry that their manager Mickey Ned O’Sullivan jumped high into the air in celebration when substitute Gerald O’Sullivan kicked the ‘insurance’ point in the third minute of injury time. The score sealed victory and their place in the provincial final where they will face the holders Tipperary who …

  On his first official visit to Clare since becoming president of the GAA, Liam O’Neill performed the official opening of Clonlara’s GAA pitch on Sunday evening.In his address to the attendance the Laois native said, “this is what the GAA is all about”.“This is one of the more important things that we do and I am here to represent Central Council and to congratulate the club on looking to the future. I am here on behalf of the other 1,650 clubs in the country to congratulate Clonlara.”The president went on to say, “in opening these facilities, you are looking to the future. We are dealing with people who have vision and who have the ability to carry that vision out and that is really what the GAA is all about. That is what the GAA is all about and that is why our organisation continues to prosper. Anywhere a club develops facilities, that club and area prospers and I …

Newmarket 2-19   Clarecastle 1-10 A sharper Newmarket side scored a comfortable win over Clarecastle in this Clare Champion Cup tie at noon on Saturday in Fr Murphy Park, Newmarket.